Ward 2 (Plot Point)
General/Brief Description/Key Points * Takes place on Sept 26th of Year 3 * The X men are enlisted by Dionysius to rescue Gordon and end up finding out that he has been locked in a literally underground prison, referred to as Ward 2 of 'The Facility', run by unseen wardens, referred to as 'the Guys Upstairs' (or 'GU' for short), and staffed by brainwashed criminals. * Melody, with the help of Shroud and Hellraiser, recovers a satanic artifact being kept at in Ward 2 known as 'The Georgian' * Feather rescues Wayne, but at the cost of the life of the only person Wayne has interacted with in a long time, Lok-E (a self-described Neo-Nord, with the ability to call forth lightning even inside of the enclosed structure of Ward 2/The Facility) * A small portion of the group also come upon Major Tom, who says his name is Johnny B. Goode, and first lures Gordon to him through their mutual connection to Dionysius and then utilizes Gordon's far more direct connection to Dionysius to empower himself enough to facilitate a partial escape. * In the same place that they encounter MT/JBG the small group also encounters two more people of immediate note: ** a guard who facilitates the Major Tom: Part 2 Sub-Plot, which ultimately results in both the 'guard' and Johnny B. Goode/Major Tom being taken 'into custody' by Melody but for entirely different reasons. ** Shato, who is much younger than the x men's elderly headmaster and fluent only in Japanese * Throughout the entirety of Ward 2, the x men find and liberate about a half a dozen other individuals who are not of immediate note (see character list at bottom of page for details) ** One of those other individuals, Maker, turns Kenzie's shopping mall bought sword into a sword that is actually a practical weapon composed of an entirely new alloy though because Kenzie is in his opinion rude to him while he is doing it, he christens the new alloy bitchtanium in 'Kenzie's honor' More Detailed Description * A satyr who refers to himself as ‘Garth’ shows up at the Xavier Institute as an emissary for the Greek Demi-God Dionysius, whom Garth informs the x men is losing power ultimately as a result of the fact that Gordon has seemingly dropped off the face of the planet and thus is no longer financially backing the extend Midas family's' year long partying which empowers Dionysius as the greek god of wine and art. * After a protracted but ultimately pointless conversation and much joviality in the face of a crisis by Garth (wherein Lyric was conscripted by the Thiasians allegiance to Dionysius to say very silly things much to her dislike), Garth opened a gateway to as close to Gordon as Dionysius could ascertain. He does this by igniting a wad described as being composed of oily vegetable matter in a bowl in the institute's kitchen which produces a thick cloud of smoke that transports anyone who enters it to the destination. * The destination turns out to be a room within a larger series of hallways (referred to as Ward 2), which in turn is part of a larger complex known to as 'The Facility' that is run by entities referred to as 'The Guys Upstairs', who have collected and contained individuals that they consider to be a threat to the continuation of the human race for one reason or another. Ward 2 utilizes as it's guards and caretakers for those held within serious criminals and other persons of bad intent who have been brain-washed and reprogramed mostly through the use of nanotechnology. * The x men's incursion is initially met with surprise by the long-time guard (#5) who is quickly subdued by Shroud, but refuses to cooperate with the x men regardless. The only other guard off duty at the time of the x men's incursion (#247) tries to barricade himself inside the guards' living quarters only for Hellraiser to inadvertantly cause a fire that threatens not only the life of #247 but also the x men themselves, but only because the wardens (referred to by the guards as 'The Guys Upstairs') seal the air vents to make the area the x men are in a sealed system and facilitate the consumption of all the oxygen in the area by the fire. * The fire is ultimately put out and the x men allowed to roam fairly free throughout the area, which they learn is referred to as Ward 2 of an unknown number of total wards. * The x men liberate a technomancer who gives his name as Maker and throughout the rest of the plot point continues to upgrade and enhance himself by improving a cybernetic implant that Maker creates from what starts as a piece of common metal, ultimately resulting in Maker having a power enhancing device sticking out of his left fore-arm, metallic tendrils taking the place of his right hand, a cybernetic left eye, an inner ear implant (which he copies from Kenzie's implant, which she got from Pi) * After being threatened by Kenzie with her sword, Maker declares that if she hadn't done that he might have been able to 'just let it go' but since she choose to stick that afront to metalurgy in his face he is going to do something about. Rather than destroy the sword, Maker remakes it on a molecular level sharpening it and altering it to be composed of an entirely new alloy that due to what Maker sees as Kenzie's rudeness he christens as 'bitchtanium' in 'Kenzie's honor' * The group also encounter Psycho Miner, who posses the ability to painfully extracting information from people's minds. Unfortunately for Psycho Miner, idolizes Mengela and dresses like a Nazi (for effect), his defense relies entirely upon devices that he either basically stole from Maker or Maker was forced to make, all of which Maker put backdoor trigger phrases into which allow the x men to quickly force Psycho Miner to surrender. He agrees to trade them his life and freedom for informaiton since information is sort of his 'whole deal'. * Two key pieces of Psycho Miner's defenses, are two at first seemingly robotic attack dogs, which are soon revealed to have been created by Maker before he was captured and detained in Ward 2. They are respectively Version 1 and Version 2 of Maker's rather disturbing efforts to circumvent his pet dog's mortality by first building her a new body (Bonbon) and then later completely transfering her consciousnes into a fully robotic body (Autumn). * Gorodn is informed that there are people there to see him and is allowed out of his 'containment area', he then proceeds to more or less trick the 'GU' into giving him a bottle of alcohol claiming to want a gift to give his friends when he sees them. Instead of what he claims, Gordon proceeds to guzzle the entirely bottle down as quickly as possible in an attempt at either suicide, empowering Dionysius, or both. Ultimately he gives himself a serious case of alcohol poisoning. * Due to Gordon being on death's door and Gordon being close to Jodie, Seraphim's 'death sense' causes him to be drawn to Gordon whom he has never seen before. The two of them engage in what can loosely be called a conversation which is complicated by Gordon extreme inebriation. * Due to Seraphim being entirely an psionic astral projection, it seems to the 'GU' that Gordon is talking to himself and they diagnosis him as having some sort of mental disorder. They inform the others of their diagnosis. * An argument over how to react to being informed that Gordon might be suffering from some sort of mental disorder and wehther they should even believe the 'GU' breaks out and ultimarelt due to the reliance of most of the group upon some form of technology or otherwise sensitive device and an utter lack of trust in Psycho Miner due to his extreme douchebaggery and tendency to literally try to stab them in the back, Dr. Viper elects to take the short way to Gordon, which passes by a man who emits an aura that tends to cause things to fail and bread down rapidly, while the rest of the group take the long way around. * Haing a human brain, Dr.Viper can perceive Seraphim, who is very vague about who and what he is instead insisting that Dr. Viper focus on the fact that Gordon is dying which Seraphim repeatedly reiterates much to Dr. Viper's dislike. The 'GU' also re-iterate their belief in some form of contagious mental disorder which they feel has spread to Dr. Viper due to her seemingly talking to herself as well. * A nearby 'captive' gets Dr. Viper's attention and after using a trick question to confirm that Dr. Viper's mention of being a member of the x men was in-fact real (as proven by her knowing that Cup was lying about things having to do with the x men) he offers to help, but asks for Dr. Viper's bottle of water before he does so/so that he can do so. After being given the bottle of water, the captive (cup) proceeds to turn the water to acid inside his mouth and then break down the plexiglass wall seperating him from the hallway Dr. Viper is in. He then turns most of the water into a magical elixer that 'cures' Gordon's extreme drunken state. * Upon recovering, Seraphim is no longer compelled to stick around to watch a no longer dying Gordon and so leaves and the group begins taking the long way to meet up with the others but Gordon enters a trance that leads him to finding a hidden hallway off of the main hallway that rounds around the entirely of Ward 2, where the really dangerous people are held. His trance leads him to what Gordon is lead to believe is a Thiasian and initiates the Major Tom: Part 2 Sub-Plot. * By the resolution of the Major Tom: Part 2 Sub-Plot, Gordon, Dr. Viper, and Cup are joined by Melody, whom the 'GU' can no more see than they could Seraphim. · He informs the x men that he was Gordon Midas’ life-long companion until Gordon left to find himself by traveling the world. · Garth also informs the x men that he has come as a representative of the ancient God Dioynisus, who more or less is demanding that the x men retrieve his ‘high priest’ Gordon. · It seems that Gordon’s extended family constitute the cult of Dionysius and give Dionysus his power through worship in the form of lots of partying but they have had to cut back because Gordon has stopped sending them the money to do so. · Garth used some magic derived from the last of Dionysus’ power to fill the institute’s kitchen with a cloud of smoke to transport any who enter it to Gordon’s general location. · Garth hesitantly also states that alternatively, the x men are to kill Gordon so that his gift will be passed to his younger brother. TIME: Later that morning and into the afternoon LOCATION: Ward 2 within ‘the facility’ otherwise: UNKNOWN · Gordon’s ‘general vicinity’ ends up being a large white room known by ‘the locals’ as ‘the intake room’ in a facility set up and run by the enigmatic ‘Guys Upstairs’ who have deemed everyone within it (even the people serving as guards) to be a threat to the survival of the human race, and so have ‘obtained’ them and are keeping them within the facility. · Conflicts ensue almost immediately complicated by ‘The Guys Upstair’s apparent disregard for human life and willingness to according to them and the guards as well unleash one of the occupants capable of killing all living things within Ward 2 almost instantly. · There are only three guards in the facility: # 5 – who has grown comfortable and does not want the system messed with and has a relationship with ‘The Guys Upstairs’ in which they actively try to keep him alive while being willing to let the other two guards die. # 247 – a former leg-breaker for a Mexican drug cartel, who had is sadistic and rude persona over-ridden into a meek coward. $ 250 – the newest guard who apparently is actually a relic of Hydra/Nazi super-science namely a werewolf like homoculus that ‘The Guys Upstairs’ are able to control through remotely inflicting pain upon. · Eventually ‘The Guys Upstairs’ decide that it would be best to stop trying to kill the group in order to study them, namely to figure out how they got inside of Ward 2 in the first place. · The entire ‘security’ of Ward 2 and presumably the entire facility is that no one knows where it is and so trying to break down a wall or otherwise escape puts those inside at risk from the unknown extreme environment beyond the walls of the facility.